Clarence walked out of the classroom that evening with his two best pals Sumo and Jeff on either side of him. School had just let out and they were anxious to get home, for differing reasons of course. Jeff wanted to get a start on the homework their teachers had assigned them, Sumo just wanted out of there, and Clarence was going to spend the evening with his mom and step-dad. Sumo rushed towards the school doors carrying his old black canvas back pack on his shoulder. Clarence hurried forward while Jeff hung behind.

"Anyway guys, Chad, mom and I are gonna go to a monster truck rally. Big trucks drive her cray-cray," Clarence laughed.

"I watch them on TV; I love it when they splash mud everywhere." Sumo spouted as he opened the door for Clarence and Jeff.

Jeff twitched. "I-I don't know. That sounds…incredibly dirty."

Clarence and Sumo were beyond use to Jeff and his cleanliness. He was never interested in playing in the dirt when they were younger. Of course, Sumo would just throw some mud on him and Jeff would join…usually to kill them, but it had the same effect. Clarence and Sumo had no trouble getting dirty.

"Yikes, cold!" Clarence exclaimed. He zipped up his purple hoodie quickly.

"You know, you wouldn't be so cold if you didn't wear shorts all the time. Get some jeans or something." Jeff pointed at his own brown cargo pants. He then pulled a blue hoodie over his head.

Clarence was going to respond but stopped when he saw Belson walk out of the doors of the school too. He usually walked home as well. "Hey Belson!" Clarence shouted while waving. Belson frowned. Everyone knew that Belson wasn't very fond of Clarence…everyone except Clarence. "He's a stinker." Clarence smiled and messed with his dirty blond hair.

Clarence was way too friendly to realize that Belson was bad news for everybody. He picked on Jeff and everyone else in the school. He even made fun of Clarence, who didn't seem to realize it at all. Sumo said countless times that he was a special brand of stupid, but in a friend way.

Sumo eventually gave up battling the cold and slid on his worn leather jacket. Sumo slowed his pace to sync up with Clarence and Jeff.

"Do you guys want to come over to my house tomorrow? I got a board game that I think you guys would like."

Clarence's blue eyes widened. "Ooh! Sumo what do you think?"

Sumo looked at the blond and then at the brown haired boy. "Sure, I got nothing to do anyway." A cold breeze shifted the tanned boy's spikey hair. It had grown out since the last time Clarence cut it. He has kept it short ever since.

"Great, I'll get snacks that you guys will like. And no Clarence, pizza poppers are bad for you so I am not getting them."

Clarence sighed longingly. "You just don't understand their greatness yet, Jeff."

"Yeah, their great." Sumo snickered.

"Whatever, anyway, be at my place at five tomorrow. You guys can stay the night too." Jeff stated, messing with a fuzzy on his sweatshirt.

Clarence and Sumo both nodded their heads and the trio continued to walk down the street.

It was 4: 58 and Jeff was laying out snacks for Clarence and Sumo. Jeff knew that the two of them were not as punctual as himself so the chips he set down might get a bit stale. But to his own surprise he heard a knock on the door. Jeff set down everything else and answered the door. Sumo held an old sleeping bag under his left arm as he stood in the doorway. He was wearing a black T-shirt and his jeans that were ripped at the knees. Jeff noted that they were his favorite ones. There was a black bag in his other hand.

"Hey, you came early this time." Jeff said finally once he let Sumo inside.

"Yeah," Sumo said.

"Go put your stuff in my room. I put out chips and stuff."

Sumo couldn't help the awkward silence that sometimes occurred while he was alone with Jeff. It was hard to keep at bay. The tanned boy walked down the hallway into Jeff's room. It was spotless and seemed to shine. Sumo remembered that it was always like this. His sheets were plain and kind of boring…just like always. Sumo chuckled at the pictures he had around his room. There were a bunch of some of their adventures as kids, a few of them in middle school, and even less of them in high school. Sumo dropped his things by Jeff's bed and came walking out.

Jeff was sitting on the couch and watching a game show, like usual.

"So what board game is it?" Sumo asked trying to spend as much time alone with Jeff as he could.

"I kind of lied about the game actually. I just didn't want to be in my house alone today." Jeff said plainly. He crossed his legs as he looked over at Sumo, who was standing beside the TV with his hands in his pockets.

"Your mom is on another business trip?" Sumo asked, his gaze lingering on the brunet.

"Yeah," Jeff said plainly. He liked to pretend her absence didn't bother him but Sumo could read him better than anyone.

"You don't need to lie to get us to come over, you know that right?" The tanned boy took a few steps closer grabbing a chip and sliding it in his mouth.

"Yeah, I know." Jeff looked at the TV next.

"Clarence won't be happy. He was really psyched." Sumo chuckled.

"Stop it; you're making me feel guilty." Jeff said with a slight difference in his tone now.

"Okay, okay. What were you planning on doing today then?"

"Well, I was hoping that we would just play a video game or something. The stuff we did last time. Maybe watch that one movie you and Clarence had your eyes on."

"I am intrigued," Sumo smirked. Clarence and Sumo had been itching to watch it ever since Jeff's mom brought it home.

"I thought you would say that." Jeff got up off the couch. He brushed past Sumo. "I think I heard a car pull up. Maybe it's Clarence."

Sumo watched Jeff walk toward the door. He tried hard not to look at his butt. He pulled the door open to reveal a pudgy Clarence wearing his usual shorts and purple zip-up hoodie. He had a back pack thrown over one shoulder. Sumo saw Clarence put a hand up in greeting. He smiled a toothy smile showing off his pearly whites. His two front teeth had grown in around Christmas time when they were still kids. Sumo and Jeff had to deal with his jokes on how he got his two front teeth for Christmas. It was incredibly stressful. Even Belson, who rarely talked to Clarence, told him to shut up.

"The gang's all here." Clarence said eyeing them both smiling. "So what are we gonna do first?"

"No board game, that's for sure." Sumo looked at Jeff.

"Shut it," Jeff shot back angrily. "I lied about the board game Clarence."

"Oh well, we can still…are those barbeque chips?" Clarence pointed over Jeff's shoulder to the bowl of orange looking crisps. He got all wide eyed.

"Yes..?" Jeff said cautiously.

"I will forgive you Jeff; I value our friendship so much that I will overlook this horrible betrayal in our relationship."

"Just go eat some chips Clarence." Sumo said and stepped to the side.

"Will do, friend."

Clarence, Sumo and Jeff were lying on the floor of Jeff's room reading magazines about video games when seven rolled around.

"I guess I'll start making dinner. I'm making pasta." Jeff said.

"Need any help?" Sumo and Clarence said looking up from their magazines.

"Nah, I'm good."

With that Jeff left the room. Sumo heard his footstep die away and then he turned to Clarence. "Hey, Clarence."

"Yeah?" Clarence put down his magazine and focused on the tanned boy.

Sumo opened his mouth but closed it. "Nah, it's nothing. I'm gonna take a leak. See you in two." Sumo then stood up and walked his way down the hallway. He stood outside the kitchen listening to Jeff shuffle pots and pans. He watched Jeff's back as he moved from side to side adjusting the temperature on the stove then to washing his hands in the sink. Jeff looked around his shoulder and saw the tanned boy slumped against the door frame observing him.

"What's up?" Jeff said. He was wearing an apron and looked rather curious.

"Uh…nothing, just wondering what exactly you're making."

"It's one of the weird recipes my mom brought home. It should be pretty good." Jeff moved back to the stove to pour in some of the uncooked pasta. "I don't even want to begin trying to pronounce the name."

"Cool."

There was a silence as Jeff turned to look back at Sumo.

"Is there a reason you keep staring at me or?" Jeff asked raising an eyebrow at his tan friend.

"I've just been looking at the fuzzy in your hair." Sumo said his tone not wavering.

"Oh," Jeff said as he reached up and pulled the fuzzy out of his hair. "Thanks."

Sumo nodded and then left the kitchen for Jeff's room. He slowed his pace and ran a hand through his short hair. He had been caught staring again. Thank god he had an excuse this time. The tanned boy really couldn't get Jeff out of his head. It had been like this ever since they were kids. Sumo had reached Jeff's bedroom door to see Clarence holding his cell phone. He was smiling down at it.

"Who's got you being all girly?"

Clarence looked up in shock. "No one."

"Don't lie to me Clarence." Sumo sat back down and crossed his legs in front of Clarence.

"Okay, okay. It's just Belson. He called me a creep for texting him all the time."

"You've got to be kidding me Clarence. That is nothing to be smiling about." Sumo stated bluntly.

"You guys just don't know him like I do." Clarence put his phone down and shook his head slightly.

"What is there to know? He is bad news Clarence." Sumo went back to reading the video game magazine. Clarence had dropped the topic and began reading his own magazine.

The silence in Jeff's room was only broken when the brunet himself walked through the door. "Hey, dinner's done. Come on out." Jeff had no doubt taken notice to the cold in the room. Sumo knew that he and Clarence would start talking again, just not about Belson. Clarence was obviously set on defending the bully. It wasn't any of his business but Sumo just knew that Belson was a bad thing for their group.

While sitting at the dinner table Clarence was acting as usual. He kept his phone in his pocket, obviously trying not to cause another fight with Sumo or Jeff.

"This is good Jeff, almost as good as pizza poppers." Clarence added once he took a bite of the pasta dish.

"Thanks I guess. I seriously don't know why you like those processed things so much. You're gonna die of cancer."

"Cancer never tasted so good." Clarence closed his eyes and marveled over pizza poppers in his head.

"Yeah," Sumo agreed.

Jeff sighed and kept eating his creation. "Let's watch that movie after this okay?"

"Hell yeah," Sumo and Clarence said in unison.

It was a terrifying ghost flick. Blood was running down the walls of a two-story Victorian in some town in Michigan. The main character had just been pushed down the stairs and was now struggling to get to her feet. The ghost was now advancing on her. The lady looked in the mirror and there was a hooded figure stepping over her body. She screamed and that was when Jeff looked into a blanket.

The room was cloaked in darkness with nothing but the TV illuminating the trio's faces. Jeff looked back up at the screen and saw the lady being forced down a hallway. She was trying to hold onto anything she could to prevent her predator from taking her to the basement. He looked away again. The screaming filled his ears. Then as he heard the basement door close he heard the unmistakable music signaling the end of the movie. He breathed a sigh of relief.

Jeff looked to his left and saw Clarence passed out with a bowl of popcorn on his lap. "Clarence is out." He said then looked to his right for Sumo.

"Looks like it." Sumo said moving to his right to turn on a lamp on the end table. The light didn't seem to disturb the blond.

Jeff got up and took the bowl of popcorn from Clarence. He moved to the kitchen to throw away the kernels that were left. Sumo pulled the blanket Jeff was hiding under over Clarence. He moved to the TV to get the disc out of the DVD player. Jeff came back into the living room to see Sumo staring at the floor.

The awkward silence was back and was harder than ever to ignore. He glanced at Jeff, who was busing himself with empty glasses and soda cans. Sumo grabbed the bowls of chips for Jeff and headed to the kitchen with him. He admitted that he wouldn't have done this for anyone but Jeff.

"Thanks" Jeff muttered to the tanned boy. He was also being affected by the silence.

"Whatever." Sumo said. He was once again staring at Jeff as he messed with something in the sink. He watched the brunet's hands grab each glass and rinse them out under the hot water. Jeff walked back up to Sumo and took the bowls he was holding. There was nothing but little crumbs in each of them. Jeff dispensed them in the trash and put the bowls in the sink where he rinsed them out as well. While doing so Sumo crept up behind Jeff.

Jeff turned around. "S-Sumo-", he began but was cut off. Sumo wrapped his arms around Jeff's waist and kissed him. The tanned boy moved his lips against Jeff's gently. Sumo had only been dreaming of doing this for years so he took extra care in being gentle. He tightened his grip on the brunet and kissed him again and again. Then he noticed Jeff's hands were stationed on his chest. Jeff pushed Sumo off of him, not roughly, just enough to get the point across. The brunet closed his eyes and his hands went to his chest. He grabbed at his shirt nervously.

"S-Sumo, no." Jeff said weakly. "I can't think about you like that."

Sumo looked at the boy before him. His expression was a mix of sadness and frustration. Sumo scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I get it." The blond took a step back and went to Jeff's room. He grabbed his sleeping bag and back pack. Before leaving Jeff's house Sumo looked into the kitchen. "Sorry about that. I'll leave for now. Tell Clarence…tell Clarence whatever you want."

"Sumo, look I-" Jeff started but was cut off when the door shut abruptly.

Sumo started down the front walk. He wasn't angry. Sure, he was feeling a bit upset because he threw himself at Jeff, but that was it. He picked up the pace to his house. He just wanted to get to his bed and sleep this off. He remembered that Jeff had always been like this with him. Sumo knew that it wouldn't change. Jeff didn't need a relationship to cloud his judgment right now; he had been saying it for months. Sumo was just being hopeful, that maybe Jeff would make an exception if it was Sumo. He realized that that wasn't the case tonight.